UW Hospital and Clinics Among Top 50 in Seven Specialties, First in Madison

Madison, Wisconsin - University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics is the top-ranked hospital in the Madison area and is also among the top 50 U.S. hospitals in seven medical specialties, according to the 2011 edition of U.S. News and World Report's "America's Best Hospitals" guide.

The magazine also ranks UW Hospital and Clinics as "high-performing" in five additional specialty areas.

U.S. News ranks hospital care in 16 specialties to guide patients who need an especially high level of care. UW Hospital is ranked among the nation's top 50 hospitals in the following categories:

Only 140 of the more than 4,800 U.S. hospitals were ranked in any medical specialty.

This year, the magazine added "metro-area rankings," which identify high-performing hospitals in highly populated metropolitan areas. Hospitals must be in the top 25 percent within a given specialty to be considered for the metro rankings. UW Hospital and Clinics ranked first in the Madison metro area.

These hospitals, according to the magazine, "are fully capable of giving most patients first-rate care, even if they have serious conditions or need demanding procedures."

"UW Hospital has been listed among top hospitals for many years," said UW Hospital and Clinics president and CEO Donna Katen-Bahensky. "What's new this year is recognition that UW Hospital is the most highly ranked in our area and that several other specialty areas are also getting national recognition. We could not achieve this distinction without strong partnerships between our hospital staff and our physician colleagues."

Katen-Bahensky noted that every organization aiming to measure quality does it differently, and each individual approach has limitations.

"Hospitals today are measured in a wide variety of ways, and consumers who want to learn about a hospital's performance have many options to do so," she said. "We appreciate the national recognition, but also rely on more rigorous measures of quality to improve performance."

Four categories - psychiatry, ophthalmology, rheumatology and rehabilitation - are ranked based on a "reputational" score alone. The other 12 categories are assessed based on reputation and a mix of other data. The magazine listed the top 50 hospitals in 12 of the 16 categories.